Dale Earnhardt Jr Devises a Plan to Eradicate the ‘Fuel-Mileage’ Problem From Daytona

Finally, the curtains have fallen on NASCAR’s biggest spectacle, the Daytona 500. The 200-lap feature was everything fans could ask for, meaning it had all the elements for an epic fan feast, delivering plenty of action, drama, and an unexpected thrilling finish. While the event was great for fans, drivers had to deal with a lot, plenty of shoving, and a fuel problem that caught most by surprise.

Ross Chastain was probably the first one to be vocal about this issue. Following the race, NASCAR veteran and Pied Piper of Daytona, Dale Earnhardt Jr also offered his take on this matter. As a matter of fact, the 49-year-old gave an ingenious solution to the problem on his podcast.

Dale Earnhardt Jr cooks up a strategy to fix the Daytona 500

Dubbed the “Great American Race,” the Daytona 500 is truly a marvel that enthralls the fandom unlike any other. The high-speed chases with cars zipping past being inches away from each other and the ever-persistent threat of the “Big One” keeps the fans on the edge of their seats. It always looks like a fierce neck-and-neck battle is ongoing on the racetrack. However, for Monday’s race, many drivers stated it was different from the majority of the 200-lap contests at Daytona International Speedway.

Usually, the field goes all out throwing caution to the wind to go three wide or four wide just to get the gold, but this year’s race saw a different plot. The fuel-mileage issue of the Next-Gen cars got drivers & teams to run in fuel-conservation mode throughout the majority of the event.

While the product didn’t appear much different on TV, drivers didn’t shy away from airing their frustration about just riding around for a large portion of the sport’s biggest race. Following this, Dale Jr dropped his take, providing an innovative solution to tackle the issue.

He said, “You need to have the stages short enough so that they can run the entire stage on one tank. Okay? That’s one way of doing it. I don’t like that, but it would create these little 50-lap Sprints, right? He essentially proposed, “If you split the stage in half then you don’t have guys really doing the fuel mileage game anymore.” 

He then added, “We have to figure out a way to either allow them to… the stage needs to be nearly two tanks of gas. Okay? So they’re going to run a tank out, then fill up, and almost you know and complete the rest of the race.”

WATCH THIS STORY: Kenny Wallace backs Dale Earnhardt Jr’s stance on the Clash 

How did NASCAR drivers react to Daytona’s fuel problem?

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200 laps on a 2.5-mile speedway equals 500 miles of high-octane racing. To add fuel to the fire, these race cars were being ringed to the core, being pushed out their maximum speed by racers. And that certainly needs a lot of fuel. While Ross Chastain and Dale Jr appear to be the first ones to react to the mileage issue, many more have expressed their concerns, including Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace.

Erik Jones, in an exclusive to Toby Christie, said, “It’s frustrating, I don’t know how to fix it. It’s really hurt the racing for sure at these tracks. It’s a 480-mile fuel-saving race and a 20-mile sprint of chaos to the finish. I wish we could race more during the day.” Wallace on the other hand, shook his fellow driver’s hands in approval with a simple tweet that read, “Facts.”

“Everyone was saving fuel. Get in the pack, and you run five seconds slower than we should have been running in the first stage. It was a massive pack. Five seconds,” Chris Buescher emphasized who was also frustrated with Monday’s racing.

READ MORE: Conceited Ross Chastain Refuses to Apologise, Deems Last Lap Wreckout a Massive Daytona Breakthrough

With the drivers venting out their frustration and experts like Dale Jr giving the solution, NASCAR only needs to heed the call and make the necessary changes, but will they?